The effects of yakson or gentle human touch training given to mothers with preterm babies on attachment levels and the responses of the baby: a randomized controlled trial

Abstract

This study was carried out to determine the effects of the yakson or gentle human touch methods applied by mothers on their preterm new-borns on the mother’s attachment levels and the baby’s response. The yakson and gentle human touch methods are touch-based methods where stimuli with stress-reducing effects are given to preterm new-borns. This study was conducted with 90 women and their new-borns (Yakson = 30, gentle human touch = 30, control = 30) who were hospitalized at the neonatal intensive care unit of a state hospital in Turkey between August 2016 and August 2017. As a result, it was determined that the yakson and gentle human touch methods practiced on the new-borns by their mothers increased mother-baby attachment, contributed to sleep-calmness states, vital signs and weight gain of the baby and reduced their durations of hospital stay.

Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/07399332.2021.1958817 .

Disclosure statement

All of the authors declare that they have all participated in the design, execution, and analysis of the paper, and that they have approved the final version. Additionally, there are no conflicts of interest in connection with this paper, and the material described is not under publication or consideration for publication elsewhere.

Permissions

This study was carried out upon the permissions of the Ethics Committee of Non-Interventional Research (No: 2011-KAEK-25 2016 and Decision: 12-10) and of the provincial directorate of health.